 All right. Good morning, everyone. Good morning to our students who are here online as well. Okay, let's begin this time with a word of prayer, and then we'll get into our teaching. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for yet another beautiful week ahead of us, Lord. Lord, we thank You. Your Word says that Your mercies are new every morning. And even as we come into Your presence to learn, I pray Holy Spirit that You will teach us. You will lead us and guide us. And even as we study God, I pray that You will guard minister to our hearts. Lord, thank You for the deposit of Your Word in each one of our hearts. Lord, we submit this time. We submit this day this week into Your hands. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right. So we have to start from chapter 10. Praying for the lost. From chapter 10, praying for the unsaved. And we stopped at praying for the lost. So we looked at last class. What is the church's responsibility? What the enemy does? The enemy blinds people's eyes. Right? The enemy brings deception, confusion. He makes what is a lie look like a truth. And what is a truth look like a lie? That's called deception. Right? Then we saw that he infiltrates the church. He holds people in bondage. So he puts them into one prison and he says you'll be there, but in bondage. Then he stops the proclamation of the gospel. Why? Because he knows the power of the gospel. If you and I believe the gospel, our lives will be changed. So he will try to harden our hearts. The enemy, he will try to harden our hearts. He will try to stop us from receiving the gospel. Because if we receive it, it will become believers. We will believe in it. That's the power of God. Right? And then we looked at the church's responsibility. What is our responsibility? To sit back. No. Our responsibility is to fight, is to wage war against the devil. Our responsibility is to be salt and light, to bind, to overthrow the works of the devil. Right? Now all of this we do, not on our own strength. Remember we looked at that verse in 2 Corinthians 10, 3-6. It says, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God. They pull down arguments, reasonings and strongholds. Right? So how do we pray for the lost? Now when you look at our nation, our nation has 1.3 billion people. It's a lot of people. 1.3 billion people in this world. And probably Christianity is about 11 percent, 10 to 11 percent. That is nothing. Just in our nation, I'm talking about India. I think about the whole world. Just in our nation, 1.3 billion people. So how do you and I, you know, of course we can't go to different cities every month, go to different cities and that may not be possible. But how can you and I be a part of what God is doing? Just a few points here. Pray and ask God for the city and the region as an inheritance and a possession. Let's read Psalms 2.8. It's a very familiar passage. Psalms 2.8. Let's read that. Go ahead. Anybody can please read. Psalm 2 verse 8. Ask of me and I will give you the nation for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. Yeah. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. So God is saying you ask me and I will give you. That's what even Jesus said, right? Ask of me and I will give you the nations. Now, sometimes when we read this verse, we may think to ourselves, how is it possible? I mean, you talk about nations and inheritance. It is God bringing in people into his kingdom. Right? So you and I, for example, you're in a city or you're staying in a town and in your town, there are 50,000 people. You can ask God. God, give me 10,000 people. You can ask. There's nothing wrong. It says ask of me. I'll give you the nations. Give me 10,000 people or give me 20,000 people. Give me 30,000. You can pray prayers like that. Right? And it's very important to do that as believers. Remember, you pray targeted prayers also. Yes. Right? Now, in our personal life, we pray targeted prayers. Right? God, I need this. I need this much money. I need this much. You know, I need your wisdom. I need this. We pray. Right? But in our personal life and even when we're praying for other people or for the cities, you can pray targeted prayers. So for example, you're starting a church. You planted the church. Pray targeted prayers. God, give me 100 people in the next one year. What are you doing? Targeting prayers. God, give me open doors for me in colleges. These are the three colleges near my church. So open doors for me in this college and the other, all these three colleges open doors for me. So what are you doing? You're praying targeted prayers. I'm not just praying, God, thank you. Thank you for church. Thank you for all that you're doing in the church. Thank you that you're going to bring people. Yes. But it's also important to pray targeted prayers. This is what I want. I want to see this God. I want to see the worship team become like this. I want to see my church leaders become like this. I want to see 15 life groups in this one year. Raise up leaders. Give me five leaders in the next five months and another five leaders in the next five months. What are you doing? Targeted prayers. Right. So first one, pray and ask God for the city to pray and invite the Holy Spirit to bring conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment. See, conversion, meaning when a person becomes a believer, it is not the work of human efforts. Right. We are just a vessel. Everyone say vessel. If for example, I tell you, you know, go fill this pot with water. Right. The pot may be oval shaped pot. So when you fill that pot, the water will come into that shape. The water won't say, no, let me go that side. No. Right. So our responsibility is just to share the gospel. It is the Holy Spirit who brings conviction. Right. And so pray that when you are ministering to people, the Holy Spirit will convict people. And now how the Holy Spirit does it, that is, he will, he will handle it. He can bring a word of knowledge. He can bring prophecy. He can bring healing. He can bring deliverance. He can just touch people's heart through the word of God. Many different ways. Our responsibility is to preach. I remember this one time, we were in another city and we were on missions and we were just talking about code of honor. We've seen the book code of honor. Right. So we were, we were teaching that to the youth. And after the teaching, one boy came up to me, young boy, maybe in his early 20s. He said, I didn't want to come. I didn't like this. My plan was to come see what you're doing, then go back, tell my friends and come the next next day and cause trouble. I wanted to disrupt this entire Bible called youth meeting that is happening here. But he came and he said, you said something which really spoke to my heart. And I remember what it was. I said in the teaching, it was like, it was a simple sentence, but it does. It was just that, you know, God loves you even with your failures and your weaknesses. Simple sentence. No. How many times we have used this hundreds of times? Right. Hey, God loves you. It's okay. Even if you fail, it's okay. God still loves you. We say it so casually, but that one word touched his heart. He said, God loves me even though I am a failure, even though I came to cause problems here, God loves me. So that changed his heart. And he stayed back and he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. His life was completely transformed. How? It was a one word, one sentence. I was just the vessel. I was just saying it. Right. But who did the conviction? The Holy Spirit. I did nothing. I didn't know who's he. I just said it. Now there may be a hundred people in that youth meeting. All 99 of them would have heard it and said, Yeah, I know God loves us even though in our weakness. But for this one person, it was powerful. That is called conviction. When a person is convicted through the Holy Spirit brings righteousness and justice, justification, conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment. Third one, ask God to draw people to them. Fourth one pray that God will move upon them, bringing repentance over people. God should move on people's lives. See, no matter how anointed we are, no matter what we do. Right. We cannot depend on our own self. The moment we depend on our own self saying, I will build my ministry. I will do well in ministry and I will become a good pastor. I will become a prophet. I will become a worship pastor. What is the first word that you're using? What is the word? What is the middle of the word pride? We are. What's the spelling of pride? We are ID. What happens if I am doing this? I am doing that. I we may have gifts and talents. But we must go back to God. You, you do the work. You touch people's lives. And when God touches people, it is permanent. We can force our children. We can force people, you know, come to church, come to church. Oh, pastors going on calling. Okay, I'll go. At least two, two weeks out of four Sundays, two Sundays. If I go, attendance is done. That is what my force. But if they really love the Lord and if they really, you know, convicted them, they know what God did for them. You don't have to tell them. Right. Look at churches. Not only our church, but look at churches all across. Why is it that we have so many people, youngsters, waking up early in the morning, going, doing sound and set up, serving, volunteering in the church? Why is it? Nobody's forcing them. Nobody's forcing them saying, go to church. They're doing it. Why? Because they know that something's happened in their life. Right. I remember as a young boy, I'd be like, oh, church. Sunday comes Saturday night. Oh, church. You have to go sit there for two hours. They'll sing something. They will say something. Half the time you can fall asleep. Fall asleep. My parents will see me. Oh, big headache. When will these two hours get over? But after becoming a believer, what changes? Same church, same people, same sermon, same worship songs. There's a difference. Why? Because you know who you're worshiping. You know the God that you're worshiping. Ask God to grant them the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that their spiritual eyes are enlightened, to know the beauty of his word, to know the purpose of his calling, and to know the greatness of his power. Three things, right? Ask God for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Everyone say wisdom and revelation. What is wisdom? Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. Yes, you can have all kinds of knowledge. But wisdom is to use that the right way. Revelation, what is revelation? Revelation is basically something that is hidden. It's come to the open. So the spirit of wisdom and revelation is a gift of the Holy Spirit. So we can pray. Say, God, give them the wisdom to understand this. If I preach about Jesus, they may not understand. But you give them the wisdom to understand. If I preach about the cross, they may get upset. Say, how can he be God then? But Lord, you give them the revelation. Help them to understand that the cross is not a place of defeat. It's a place of victory. You give them the revelation. I'll just preach God. I'll just say Jesus, you know, he died on the cross. He rose again from the dead on the third day. And now he's alive and he will come back into this world and he will judge all of us. Now, for me, it's okay. But for those who are unbelievers, give them the revelation to understand. What are you doing? You're already sowing the seeds or you're making the ground proper. Now, as you do that, remember the devil is working. All the devil do. Don't go for this meeting. Don't go for the youth meeting. It's not required. Everyone is talking about something. You are not a Christian. Christians, you can't do anything. You can't go out with your friends. You can't watch movies. You want to become a Christian? Now, the devil is doing that. And you are here praying, saying, God, you bring wisdom and revelation. So for example, you have prayed, prayed and then you have a youth meeting, youth conference. So this boy is feeling, I should not come. But somehow he ends up in that conference. Hey, come, no, you sit for half an hour and after that we'll go. In that half an hour, whatever you speak or whatever songs that are being sung, God can bring revelation into that person's heart. Why? Because you've already prayed. God can give him the wisdom to understand. Think of this. Look at Jesus. When he went to Peter, right? Andrew and Peter, what is their occupation? What is their job? Fisherman, was it a very learned job with the very great people? What they know, they'll go, they'll catch fish, they'll come, they'll try the fish, sell the fish. There's no big revelation in that. There's no need, a big teaching in that. They would have learned it as they were growing up. Yes or no? Right? Now Jesus goes up to Andrew and says, follow me, we studied about that, right? Andrew goes, the whole day he spends time with Jesus. He believes Jesus. Now for him, it was a revelation. You're the messiah. Why are you looking like this? This is your house. You know, he would have had so many questions. Now remember, I was reading this book and he talks about the natural part of Jesus. Remember Jesus is not what we see in these photos, you know, the blue eyes, lovely long hair and very trimmed beard and all, all a depiction. He was a normal person, wearing normal Jewish clothing, doing normal work. What was his work? Cutting wood. Now imagine Andrew's going there and saying, you're the messiah. You put yourself in that place, what you would have said. Now to read it, it's okay. To read it's Andrew and Peter. But you put yourself in that place. Imagine this man is saying, I'm the messiah. The whole Jewish, the whole nation of Israel is waiting for the messiah. Isaiah, Jeremiah, all of them have written about it. And you're saying you're the messiah. What are you doing? You're on a small road, your house is there. You're cutting wood. You're the messiah. Think about it. Do you think it's something to understand? I mean, something that anyone can believe? No. But what happened to Andrew? It became revelation. Oh yes, he is the messiah. He goes to Peter, his brother. Now again, Jesus didn't wear a crown and a robe and rings and all that and then come near the sea and stand like this. No, he would have come. He would have said, Peter, follow me. Peter saw, he says, get away from me. I am a sinner, Lord. At that moment, he had already understood. He had got the wisdom that he knows Jesus. There was revelation. You understand what I'm saying, right? So in the natural, during, when Jesus was earthly ministry, why did people, you think about this, they're putting the palm leaves and saying, oh, Hosanna and the highest for the one who's come in the name of the Lord. A few weeks later, they're saying, crucify him. Jesus, right? So it is wisdom and revelation comes from the spirit of God. Remember that as we read God's word, as we spend time in God's word, as we mature in the things of God, God gives us wisdom. God gives us revelation. And so when we pray over people, when we pray over cities and nations, we ask God, God, you give them the wisdom. Give them the revelation of who you are. I'm just a vessel. I'm just going to share. 40 minutes I'll preach. I'll pray for people. You speak to them. Very, very important for you and I. Right? If we want to start our own ministry, if we want to, you know, we are, you know, maybe teaching in Bible college or worship leaders, whatever you're calling is, you have to be led by the spirit of God. Okay? Pray for God's power. Oh, pray that God will send forth laborers, meaning many more people will be raised up and go to places where you and I will not really go. Right? Pray that God's power will demonstrate with signs, wonders and miracles. Yesterday we talked about this Sunday service. You preach the gospel. God's work is to release signs and wonders. So pray that God will release signs and wonders. Now you may have a youth meeting, for example, and some of your, you're the youth leader or youth pastor and some youth have invited their friends. Friends come and they sit. Now they're all unbelievers. Right? And imagine you are there, you're preaching and you said, okay, come on, let's all stand up. Let's invite the Holy Spirit. Let we pray for God to touch lives. And you're praying and you're saying, God, bring healing upon people. Those who are suffering from diseases, suffering from pains, bring healing in Jesus' name. And imagine this unbeliever is there, who's not a Christian, and he gets healed. What happens to him now? What happens? All of a sudden you say, who's this Jesus? What I suffered for the past 5 years or 10 years, this man prayed in Jesus' name and I'm feeling better, I'm healed. I don't feel any pain. I could not see in one eye, now I can see. You know it's not natural. This person would have gone to the doctors all his life. The doctor said, you can't do anything with your eyes. But now he's saying with the eyes, something is wrong. Something is good. Something is happening. And signs, wonders and miracles happen. They will lead them to Christ. That's the first step also. But imagine, they become believers. They don't know anything about the gospel. So they begin to learn. They begin to understand God. God gives them wisdom and revelation as they spend time in God's Word. How many of you got to know the Lord Jesus through a healing, through a miracle? Anyone, you? Okay, who else? You know, you didn't pray, but somebody prayed and you got healed. Only one person. So it's wonderful, right? Somebody prayed, got healed, became believers. Now they're sitting in Bible college. Now they go become pastors. Why? Somebody prayed. It's the Holy Spirit that does the work. Amen, right? Okay, so exercising spiritual authority. Establish God's presence through praise and worship. Declare, everyone say declare. What is declare? To speak forth, right? Declare Christ's finished work of the cross to the salvation of souls. Declare that you are standing and praying because of what Jesus did on the cross, right? Declare people released from powers of darkness, right? Pre-identify and pull down strongholds and areas of demonic, you know, domination, right? Pull down strongholds. So there will be areas in a city where in people's lives you pull down strongholds, you pray and you declare God's work. Destroy the works of the evil spirits that are working in people. So even as you go to certain places, understand what is happening. I remember my, you know, initially when I just became believers, a believer, you know, people used to call me, you know, they used to say, you come to Andhra Pradesh. I do a lot to Andhra, right? As a very young boy. And these are all towns and villages. I went there, I said, okay, we'll go preach. But when I went there, it was a completely different story. People are demon-possessed. People are, you know, I'm just, now I don't know, all I know is I just prepare one sermon, preach, pray and go. I'm not used to all demons running around and falling to the ground. I'm not used to all that. I didn't know what to do. What can I do? They're all falling. They're shouting at me. I said, what do I do? But they're shouting at me, right? And there were times I got scared. But then I realized I have to go back and understand what place I am in and declare the works of the devil, declare against the works of the devil. So what I would do is, I remember, I would go and pray, every person that is possessed by demons, I command you in Jesus' name that you will come out, right? So begin to pray over them. And then we will go for the meeting. And we go and we'll preach. Now there may be only 40, 50 people in the congregation. But people will begin to, while preaching, people will begin to manifest and people were delivered. What was done? Background. Going back to the Lord, praying, asking God to destroy the works of the devil. You see? This is what even Jesus did. What did he do? Even he prayed in the mountains, came back and he did all the miracles. So you go pray, you come and preach and the miracles will happen. So let's go to chapter 11, nurturing a new believer. Now when a person becomes a new believer, how do we help them? The word nurture means to look after. Right? It's like this. You have a seed. I say, okay, take this seed. Joseph, take this seed. The mango seed. I'm coming back after two years. I want to see at least a small plant. So Joseph takes that seed. He puts it in the ground. Make sure the ground is clean and he begins to water it every day. So he wakes up every morning. Two more years. It has to grow. So he keeps looking at it, looking after it. Suddenly he'll see all, maybe insects and other kinds of worms coming towards the plant. He has to spray. He has to make sure that the plant is secure. That is called nurturing it. Now imagine Joseph takes the seed, puts the mango seed and he says, two years, no, no problem. And the whole day he's playing guitar and keyboard. Now one year is gone and then he goes to the plant and says, where there's no plant only. Everything is dried. Why? He hasn't put water. He hasn't looked after it. Waste. So when a person becomes a believer, it is our responsibility to nurture them, to teach them. See, each one of you are in Bible college. Why have you come here? To build yourself. Right? So we want to nurture you to become leaders in God's kingdom. So how can we help that? Help you to become or help a believer, a new believer to become a strong man or woman of God. Just look at the table there in your notes. First one, teach God's truth. Everyone say, teach God's word. The number one way to get a person, a new believer matured in Christ is teach God's word. Don't start sharing stories with them. You know, when I was five years old, he doesn't want to know all that. He's hungry now. He's like a baby. He wants to keep eating. So you teach God's word. Teach on foundations. Teach on Holy Spirit. Teach on water baptism. Teach on praise and worship, faith, the simple things of God. Right? The first steps, you've got to teach them. Very, very important. What is the Lord's table? Now, imagine a believer, a person who's a new believer, you give them, hey, take Lord's table bread and wine or grape juice. He'll think that is snacks. He won't know what is that. So you need to explain to him, see, this is the Lord's table. So when you open God's word, you see what Jesus did. This is what Jesus did. He said, this is the body and this is his blood. Now it doesn't mean that this is really becoming his blood and body and blood. What it means is we are partaking of his death. We receive his life into us. So this is what the Bible teaches us. This is what Jesus did. Okay. Water baptism. Why should I dip myself in the water? Now, a person may not understand. He's a new believer. So you go back to the scriptures. This is what Jesus did. When he started before starting his ministry, he got water baptized. And when he was water baptized, the Holy Spirit came on him like a dove. What is Holy Spirit? This is what the Holy Spirit is. You begin to talk to him. What are you doing? You're teaching from God's word. He begins to understand, right? Two, even as they're growing, you train in spiritual disciplines, right? So they must learn how to read God's word. They must learn how to pray. They must learn how to spend time in God's presence and how to live a godly life. Now, when a person becomes a believer, don't expect them to pray for half an hour first day only. They don't know, right? Remember what the disciples said to Jesus? Teach us how to pray. What did Jesus say? Teach you how to pray. So after so many months, you're asking me teaching how to pray. Oh, Jesus said, when you pray, pray our Father, what in heaven? So when a person becomes a believer, you help them, guide them on how to pray. Don't say, I pray for one and a half hours every day. How can you not pray for half an hour? It's not going to help them. Your responsibility is to build the person, not to bring him down. Yes? So you say, okay, how you talk to your Father? You talk to Jesus. But I can't see where's Jesus. Don't worry. You know, when we look at the Christianity, Christianity is about faith. You're teaching the person, right? It's about faith. It's not always what you see. Just think Jesus is there next to you and you pray. You just talk to him. Tell him what is in your heart and he listens to you. Because why? The Bible says, ask and you will receive. The Bible says when two or three gather in your name, he's present there. So what's happening? You're teaching him, training him in, you know, in spending time in prayer. Then you also teach on how to read God's word. Now, if he's a new believer, don't tell him open Genesis chapter one and start reading. He'll read two chapters. He'll close the Bible. He'll be fully confused. No, he's a new believer. You give him something very simple. Why don't you read the book of Luke or John? This is what Jesus did in his ministry. And this is not stories. This is really what Jesus did. You give them to read and then you can check on them. What did you learn from this? Now, remember, they're reading God's word. So God's word is powerful or not? Will it speak to them or not? Speak to them. You don't have to be the person to try and convince him. Oh, you know, this is what it says. Really, it's saying, don't do all that. Just give them the book, the Bible. Say, you read this. If you have any questions, you ask me, I'll help you. What are you doing? You're training them to grow in the things of God and Godly living. Very important. Imagine I'm praying, reading God's word every day, but then I'm living a sinful life every day. It's like looking in the mirror and not knowing how you look. It's not matching. Right? So you should train them. You have a Godly life. All of them may use bad words, but you don't have to use it. Why? Because you are God's child. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. It's not what goes in that makes you dirty, but what comes out. Right? So it's very, very important that you teach these disciplines. Then you connect them to a life group or a local church. Now, again, this may happen in the beginning stages only. Once a person becomes a believer, connect them to a local church or a life group. And eventually you equip them to become leaders and they begin to serve in the church. Right? So how did Jesus make disciples? He selected twelve. He told them to be with Him. So they saw Jesus, what He did, what He spoke, everything. He personally taught them. That means there were times He is teaching the thousands of people and then He would take the twelve of them separately and He would teach them. And in the twelve He would take three of them separately and teach them. Right? He corrected them. He rebuked them. Right? Remember the sons of thunder? It says James and John, they say, God, Lord Jesus, you tell us we will call fire from heaven to destroy these people because they didn't believe in you. Jesus says, No, you can't do that. It's not something that you can decide to do. I've come not to, you know, destroy them, but I want to see their lives changed. So He corrected them. He rebuked them. So there's nothing wrong in rebuking people because it's not rebuking the person. You're rebuking the character or the what they're saying. So it's not wrong. As leaders, there will come a time you'll have to bring correction. You bring it in love. Then He challenged them. He said, You tell, you go out, you go to these different places and preach the gospel. And then they come back and they say, Lord Jesus, we've preached. Many people, there were signs, wonders and miracles happen. Right? And He sent them out on assignment. So you see the step by step how Jesus did it. So how can you, as a church, raise up leaders? Right? There are different ways. Some things that we do at APC. Number one is teach from the pulpit to model our real life. It's not only about teaching. Imagine I'm teaching about praying and reading God's Word and I only don't do it. I have to model it. Then I can teach it, right? Then there's life groups, discipleship, foundations class, weekend schools, engaging in missions, evangelism in church ministry. And there are many different ways we can make disciples. Right? Now, even as each one of you become leaders, make it your ambition to raise up disciples. Right? Say this after me. Raise up disciples. Half of you are asleep. Raise up disciples. That's what Jesus wants to do. He wants us to raise up disciples. That's our responsibility. You never know what one disciple, one person can do. He can change an entire city. The one person that you talk to can change an entire city. And he wants us to raise up people to become leaders. It's not like, you know, you're going to be in the same place forever. Oh, God wants you to grow. Strength is strength. Grow stronger in maturity. The things of God. We cannot afford to be in the same place. We cannot. If... We're all in first year. If you, by next semester, or for the next following year, when you go into the second year of Bible college, you cannot afford to be in the same level that you are in right now. If you're in the same level, something is wrong. Right? You have to make sure that you're growing in the things of God. You have to do it. That is your personal responsibility and my personal responsibility. Five years from now, I cannot be in the same place that I am in right now. In my spiritual walk. I have to be grown. I have to develop. I have to be able to raise up many more leaders because that's what God wants us to do. So when you look at people, look at them as leaders, look at them as people who can become disciples of God. They may be very simple. Not knowing many things doesn't matter. Raise them up as leaders. Right? That's what discipleship is. So how can we overcome practical challenges? Now, when we handle some new believers, there will be some practical challenges and we need wisdom to guide them. What are some of the practical challenges? Right? Number one, threats. Right? Threats, persecutions and abandonments from family. Now imagine you've spoken to a friend. Right? He's your good friend and he believes, he or she believes in Jesus now. They go back home and say, now I'm no more a Muslim or I'm no more a Christian. Sorry, Hindu. I'm a Christian from now. And the family gets upset and says, you're a Christian, you get out of the house. Is it a difficult time? Difficult thing? Very difficult. And this person will say, how can I get out of the house? I don't have any place to stay. Now it's going to be a difficult season. Right? How can you bring wisdom? Firstly, just pray over that. Pray over the situation. Say, God, let there be peace in the family. Let the parents, you know, receive him as he is. Right? I pray God that you will remove every fear or remove everything that is happening. Right? But still there could be abandonment. Parents will say, no. So you got to stay with him. Got to help him at that time. Right? Preventing them from going to local church. Now there will be times when it happens, you know, even in cities, like what we are living in. Imagine in cities like Bangalore, urban cities, parents don't allow the children to go to church. Parents may be unbelievers. Children, no, no, you don't go to church. Or the husband is a believer. Wife is an unbeliever. Or wife is a believer. Husband and they don't know where we're going in a city like this. So these are practical challenges. We'll have to overcome them. Free force to participate in cultural and religious practices. Now there's somebody who's been of another faith. And this happened to one of our church members. And I remember this very clearly. He's a Hindu for many years. And he came to church. He became a believer. He got married to somebody in our church. So both of them, their families were unbelievers. Strong Hindus, right? And he had a sister. So as an elder brother, he had to do certain religious practices for her wedding during her marriage. It's a Hindu marriage. But he had to do, as a only brother, he had to do some things. Now tell me, is it easy? He was very sad. I wish my sister had become a believer. But as an elder brother, the only son in the family, he had to do it. But he didn't do it. He didn't do it. He was very, very sad. He was deeply hurt. Because they chose somebody else, a cousin brother or somebody to come and do it. But his own sister. So it was very hurtful for him. But she had to make sure that he would not indulge in the practices of heathen gods. Was it hurtful? Very difficult. So there will be these challenges, practical challenges, and we should help them overcome. Forced into marriage with a non-believer. Right? Now this is a big problem. The Bible says, do not be yoked with unbelievers. How do we help them? How do we help them understand? We need the wisdom of God. Right? We cannot immediately say don't. We need to speak into their lives, try to help them understand the choices that they make. The choices that we make will determine our future. Remember the people of Israel, they made the choices. God said, I'll bring you to the promised land. God didn't say you'll take 40 years. So how many days? 15 days, 20 days maximum. From Egypt to the promised land, 20 days, 15 days. Not even more than 15 days. But it took 40 years. Why? They made their own choices. God said, you make your choice, I will make my choice. Go around the mountain. 40 years, what was supposed to be done in 15 days, they could have reached the promised land. But, you know, our choices will determine our future. So we need to help them make the right choices. And then difficulty in understanding and participating in Christian community. So once a person becomes a believer, they may not understand certain things. They may not understand community in a church. They may not understand life groups or cell groups and what is worship. They may not understand that. It takes time, so you help them. Why is everyone raising their hands during worship? They may not understand. What is this, some language you are speaking, doesn't make sense. Speaking in tongues. So they will not understand it. Practical things. You have to help them to understand. Alright? Is that okay? So, be wise, yet, be bold. Be humble, yet be strong. So we need to maintain that balance as we minister to people. Alright, so we will close here and we will pick up from the next chapter from the next week. Alright. Have a good week. God bless you all.